Fierce Competition Skews Distribution of Company Sizes

When competition over resources sours in a population, the size distribution of its individuals tends to become skewed, giving rise to a large number of small size individuals and a few large ones.

In the business world, fierce competition may result in a similar pattern. A large number of small size businesses working in a specific over-saturated market tend to show up while a few very large players emerge.

Finding your Market Niche Maximizes your Business Size

The rate at which new companies enter a given market tends to decrease as the number of companies already targeting such market increases till their number finally reaches a top limit (the carrying capacity of the market) above which the number of companies working within this market start to decrease. Besides the number of companies working in the given market, also the size of the companies is also affected. As more and more companies start playing in such market their size tends to become smaller and smaller. A virgin market where few or no companies are yet playing can witness the growth of large companies whereas a market already saturated will more probably accommodate companies of smaller sizes or smaller operations of those companies. It is thus a no brainer to try to market a virgin market or a specific niche in which you can grow without competition in order to reach a large size.

This is the same with living organisms. The size of living organisms tends to decrease as their density within a given area increases.

Has Your Baby Spoken Yet?

Different species of living organisms vary in size, lifespan and age of maturity. The smaller the size of an organism the shorter its lifespan and age of maturity. The larger the organism, the longer its average lifespan and age of maturity. This is an interesting natural phenomenon that gives us insight into how nature normally works.

Some children may start speaking earlier than others yet many of those who have 'delays' in speaking grow up to speak more eloquently as they mature.

Startup Business Size and Predators

Organisms focus on producing offspring that are larger in size, yet fewer in number, in  habitats where there are high risks of predators on the offspring and also where there is high competition among the same organism for available resources in such habitat. In contrast, organisms living in habitats that lack predators, or lack a high risk of predation, and do not have high competition produce a larger number of offspring that are smaller in size.

By the same token, businesses that are created in a highly competitive market must be born large in size or else they will not be able to survive. A business that is born in a marketplace where there are a lot of 'predators' would not stand a chance of surviving either. In contrast, in a low-competition market, a business that is born small might still be able to survive and flourish.

A Small Business Stronger than a Large Business?

The larger the organism the less it is venerable to falling as prey. The larger the size of an organism the stronger it is and the better it is able to defend itself. However, the larger the organism the more resources it needs in order to survive. This aspect makes it more dependent on the available resources and thus more vulnerable from this side. Also predators in general tend to select the larger size of prey, thus making larger sized prey more sought after and thus more vulnerable to falling as prey.

In the world of business, similar general laws apply. Although the larger a business is the more presumably powerful it can be yet at the same time a large business requires much more resources to survive and becomes a target to many more attackers. In the business world, as int he animal world, it is not just about how big you are, nor how small you are, but it is more about being of the right size, the size that makes you the most fit within the ecosystem you are working in and the niche you having.

It all boils down to righsizing. A business that has grown beyond its most optimum size or that is facing lack of resources normally downsizes. Another business may at times try to expand and grow in size to become more fit. The two directions are present in the business world in order for a business to reach its most optimum size that makes it most fit. Businesses that would go in the wrong direction would experience weakness and become less fit as they become too small or too large compared to their optimum size.

Do Larger Businesses Enjoy Longer Lives?

In nature there seems to be a relationship between the size of an organism and how long it lives. The smaller the size of an organism the shorter its life span. The larger the organism the longer is its life span. Microorganisms tend to have very short lives, followed by insects then by small animals followed by medium sized animals then finally large sized animals tend to live for long. Of course this is not a definitive rule, for turtles, which are surely way smaller than elephants, can live way longer than elephants can. Nevertheless, this rule of thumb holds in general for a wide variety of species.

Is it possible that there exists a similar rule for nations and businesses? Would it be appropriate to say that the larger the size of a nation or the larger the size of a business the longer it survives in contrast to other nations or businesses? It would be interesting to explore such a concept and see to how extend it would hold in the nations and business worlds.

Small Farm Beating Large Farm?

It is not how many trees you have in your garden or farm, but it is also how many branches those trees have, how many flowers do they make and how many fruits they produce. A farm may have a large area yet poorly producing trees. A much smaller farm yet with more sturdy trees that have vigorous root systems and plenty of resources available for them and appropriate conditions may provide a much more abundant produce than the larger farm.

Metabolism, growth, development and size

Ideas

Thoughts

1. Science can help predict plant growth and production (equations, variables: temperature).
2. Is that why Africans are tall (the high temperature, leading to a high rate of metabolism)?
3. That's why in hot climates plants grow fast and forests of lush vegetation exist. (Water? Deserts?)
4. That's why my plants grew noticeably during hot days.
5. Prediction is amazing for size and development for plants, in agriculture!

Do

1. Do experiments in balcony on plants.

Digest

• How individuals respond to temperature:
• impaired function and ultimately death at the upper and lower extremes
• a functional range between the extremes
• an optimum within the functional range
• "For each 10°C rise in temperature the rate of biological enzymatic processes doubles, and thus appears as an exponential curve on a plot of rate against temperature."
• Temperature affects:
• rates of growth: increases in mass (linear)
• rates of development: progression through lifecycle stages (linear)
• final body size
• Day-degree: number of days to develop X degrees above development threshold
• Physiological time: a combination of time and temperature required for an organism to develop
• "Together, the rates of growth and development determine the final size of an organism."
• "For a given rate of growth, a faster rate of development will lead to smaller final size."
• Temperature-size rule:
• Development increases more rapidly with temperature than does growth
• Thus final size decreases with rising temperature
• Effects of temperature on growth, development and size has practical importance for prediction.

Question

The effect of temperature on metabolism is quite interesting.